Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven), Fatih Akin, 2007

Akin's fatalist puzzle (as do many narratives of chance) prizes the neatness of its plots' intersections more than the depth of their collective substance, an unfortunate inversion that undermines, and largely undoes, the film's successes.

Quid Pro Quo, Carlos Brooks, 2008

Brooks' subculture supsense yarn faintly approximates the urban intensity of David Fincher in its solid first act, yet unravels severely from there, undone by a strained premise, weak scripting, and a pair of overwhelmed performances from Vera Farmiga and Nick Stahl.

Roman de Gare, Claude Lelouch, 2007

Lelouch mines genre tropes made familiar by authors Patricia Highsmith and John le Carre, as well as the muted suspense of like-minded auteur Claude Chabrol, in crafting this solid if unspectacular Euro thriller.

Diary of the Dead, George Romero, 2007

Romero's latest zombie commentary is serviecable as a disquieting thriller but falls somewhat short as an expose of digital culture and truth in media.

Rien ne va plus (The Swindle), Claude Chabrol, 1997

In this decidedly minor Chabrol effort, the director winds up his plot's myriad intrigues and lets them unspool somewhat less than spectacularly. Isabelle Huppert is servicable as one of a pair of small time crooks, yet the film is likewise little more than a footnote in her oeuvre.

Mister Lonely, Harmony Korine, 2007

Korine's schizoid farce is an experimental feast, a meditation on performance, faith, and the nature of entertainment that, while faintly recalling Guy Maddin in its orchestrated delusions, remains a singular fractured vision.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Nicholas Stoller, 2008

Stoller and writer/star Jason Segel play heavily to the melodramatic end of the Apatovian formula in their island comedy, offering too little pop culture wit, too few stoner barbs, and too much sweet canoodling to make for a successful romp.